Hélène Binet: The Intimacy of Making, Three Historical Sites in Korea

Hélène Binet is a renowned architectural photographer known for her distinctive and evocative black-and-white images. Born in Switzerland, she has gained international acclaim for her ability to capture the essence and atmosphere of architectural spaces. Binet's work often focuses on the interplay of light and shadow, emphasizing the texture, form, and emotional resonance of the structures she photographs.

Binet has collaborated with various prominent architects, including Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind, among others. Her photographs are characterized by a keen attention to detail, a sense of intimacy, and a poetic quality that goes beyond mere documentation. Binet's images are widely exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and her contributions to the field of architectural photography have left a lasting impact.

Hélène Binet's work, characterized by her insistence on analog film, captures spaces where light and shadow harmonize in black and white. She refrains from introducing narratives by avoiding the inclusion of people in her photographs, believing that maintaining silence in her images is more powerful than adding unnecessary noise.

          works

Binet expresses a preference for silence, stating that by preserving it, the materiality and substance of the subject become more intense than if cluttered with excessive details. He mentions waiting and studying until the perfect light arrives, comparing the process to drawing with light. Shadows in spaces without light, according to Binet, may lack energy, but they reveal more and generate multiple interpretations.

Architectural photography, for Binet, is not merely capturing buildings but freezing a complex experience by offering four different perspectives, turning the photograph into a performance. The essence of transitional space is what Binet aims to convey through her photography. She exemplifies this with a photograph of the courtyard of Byeongsan Seowon, surrounded by buildings and featuring a serene and orderly space with a few trees.

Binet explains that architecture can serve as a transitional point into dimensions that are challenging for us to perceive. In the context of Byeongsan Seowon, a place of learning, she sees an experimental space for this concept. Students cross through the main gate into the space of learning and encounter the garden (courtyard), which, being empty, symbolizes the foundation where students can build their lives.